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Wanted – Manager of the WindShawn
McEntee
Sociology

I have a hair trigger on my sociological
imagination: I was listening to Ira Flatow on NPR’s
Science Friday and heard that there is no 'leakage'
associated with genetically modified (GM) crops;
incidents in which GM species ‘volunteer’ in places they
were not planted is 'a management problem . . . not an
ecological problem'. Who is it that manages the wind
again? My sociological imagination is off: I found the
transcript on NPR’s website. The guest was the incoming
president of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, Dr. Nina Federoff, and the
conversation was about the value of science as an
international language and a tool for building community
in the world.

One of the most persistent difficulties in developing my
students’ sociological imaginations is getting them to
see ‘sociology’ in words that are well-established in
common language. Culture is one such term. The
implication of Federoff’s argument is that precision in
scientific language allows us to cross cultural
boundaries. What sociologists know, however, is that
‘science’ has its own culture; language, specifically
the extent of shared meaning, establishes cultural
boundaries.

Finding the shared meaning between students and faculty
– literally making sure I understand them while trying
to ensure that they understand me – is an arduous task.
We do have ‘aha’ moments, but it often takes 20 minutes
or so to arrive at one; it’s a really good day when we
identify 3 in 75 minutes. The process is not unlike the
journey my sociological imagination takes me on this
time. Federoff’s repeated use of the phrase ‘highly
domesticated species’ is indicative: the implication is
that ‘highly domesticated species’ constitute a
different ‘class’ of species. Really? Different than
what? Corn is grass – or at least it used to be way long
ago before human beings ‘domesticated’ it. And that term
– ‘domesticated’ – is about as precise as my students’
field notes taken while observing for a paper: that
party-goers’ roles include ‘looking like you are having
fun’. How is it that one ‘looks like’ they are having
fun? The implication is, of course, that they are NOT
having fun – but, surely, that is not what my student
means.

Sociologists are also particularly sensitive to ‘who’ is
being discussed. My students argue that their use of
‘American’ is acceptable because ‘everyone knows’ they
mean people in the U.S. This is, of course, after we’ve
discussed that ‘American’ is ethnocentric precisely
because people in the U.S. are far more likely to make
that assumption than others. We also spend considerable
time discussing the value – and consequences – of
displaying similar assumptions; one of the consequences
is point losses for displays of any of the ‘isms’ –
sexism, racism, ageism, ethnocentrism – in written work.

Federoff’s use of the language also reveals what her
culture has taught her; that ‘science’ not only can, but
its purpose is to adapt plants and animals to production
processes that meet human needs. This is vastly
different than the science I practice which is to work
with ‘natural’ systems (e.g., students’ minds in today’s
college environment) in order both to understand them
better and to find mutual benefit in doing so. So, I’m
following Federoff – but I expect some tangible results;
show me a GM crop management plan that ensures farmers
who work with natural systems won’t find ‘volunteer’
genetic modifications or other ‘highly domesticated
species’ hob knobbing with their cultivated ones. My
‘science’ – my sociological imagination – reveals that
‘science’ has a leakage problem associated with the
shared meaning of ‘social scientific’ terms like ‘highly
domesticated species’ and ‘managing’ genetic
modifications. Until we get that leakage problem stopped
up, I know a few farmers who could use a really good
Wind Manager. And we sociologists will keep doing what
comes ‘naturally’, crossing cultural divides to share
our understanding of the unique cultures in which we all
– even our students – live.